TAIBEI—Increasing numbers of Taiwanese students are joining the island's "China rush", seeking education on the Chinese mainland.

According to official Chinese figures, the number of Taiwanese students admitted into college and postgraduate programmes on the mainland totalled 461 in 1996, 928 in 1997 and 839 in 1998. Although no latest official numbers were available, Netbig.com said this number had risen between 30 to 50 per cent annually in the past two years with well over 1,000 entering mainland campuses last year.

The Internet site, based in the Chinese city of Shenzhen, provides education service and information on Chinese mainland colleges and universities. "Many Taiwanese believe a Chinese education giving more knowledge about the people and culture in the mainland will increase their chances in the Chinese job market," Netbig.com vice-president Ingrid Huang said. "I believe it will give me hands-on ex-perience in the business field in the Chinese mainland and a better understanding of the Chinese mainland people," said Lydia Chang, a 19-year-old majoring in journalism at Shih Shin University. Chang plans to go on to get a master's degree in business administration in Shanghai, which she says offers the best envi-ronment for such studies.

A journalism graduate student, sumamed Lin, at the National Taiwan University said he would like to study law on the Chinese main-land since "there will be better career prospects for me now that more Taiwanese companies are going there".

Some business executives were sending their children to study in the Chinese main- land. "They hope the children could build up connections which could later become useful in their business operations," said Yang Ching-yao, professor of the Chinese mainland studies.

A Netbig.com survey showed the campus-es favoured by Taiwanese students included Beijing, Qinghua and Renmin universities in Bei-jing, and Jinan and Zhongshan universities in Guangzhou. The most popular studies were law, business and Chinese medicine.

At present, Chinese Taibei doesn't recog-nize diplomas earned in the Chinese mainland nor help with any inquiries about studying there. But recognizing the trend, education au-thorities are giving a final form to a policy accepting certificates (iiE45) from selected uni-versities.

(Words: 352 Minutes: 6)

1. More Taiwanese students study on the Chi-nese mainland because ___.

A. Taiwan will reunite with the mainland sooner or later

B. the fees asked for are lower than those of Taiwan

C. what they have learned on the mainland will bring them a bright future

D. there are many famous universities for them to choose

2. Some business executives were sending their children to study in the Chinese mainland so that their children ___.

A. could receive better education

B. could learn more about the policy there

C. could do well in their business operations

D. could make more friends there

3. The underlined word "it" refers to ___.

A. Netbig.com B. a Chinese education on the mainland

C. the Chinese job market D. the university

4. The main idea of paragraph 4 is ___.

A. law in the Chinese mainland is pleasant to learn

B. Taiwanese companies are coming to the Chinese mainland because the law there is perfect

C. more Taiwanese companies coming to the mainland makes it better to learn laws

D. the mainland is short of lawyers for the Taiwanese companies

5. The author wrote the article to tell us __.

A. the number of Taiwanese students going to universities on the mainland had been increasing year after year

B. more Taiwanese students are studying on the mainland

C. education on the mainland is more at-tractive compared with that of Taiwan

D. Taiwan and the mainland should co-operate with each other in every field.